


The Return of Captain Jack

by auntylala



Series: Season Two Cannon [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-22 22:39:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7456611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auntylala/pseuds/auntylala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's back, it's been nine very long months since he left his team to chase answers and now he's not sure if dinner and a movie are going to be enough.  </p><p>This is the continuation of my cannon stories, initially posted on fanfiction.net in 2013 and edited.  In the cannon this is after KKBB S2, in my world it picks up after Jack vanished at the end of Shadows.  Un beta'd just re-edited and only the gnomes are mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Jack sat at his desk, a framed photo of Rhys smiling back at him. He would have to have a word with Gwen about that later. The Doctor it seemed had returned him, not when he had left the Hub as requested but nine months later. Nine months was a long time for him to be away, from the team and from Ianto. Gwen was about the only one happy to see him, sort of, even if it did mean she wasn't in charge any more. So she was engaged, that should help, he was glad she wasn't letting her life with Rhys drift. Torchwood wasn't easy on marriages, as he well knew. Or on any relationship it would seem, bringing him back to Ianto Jones. While it wasn't reasonable that he could have expected to be just welcomed back, the cold front between them wasn't pleasant. Nor was finding emails about a job offer in Glasgow and a girl in London. Ianto had apparently been busy over the last few months. Jack rubbed his forehead and sighed, even Tosh had given him a filthy look once or three times since he'd gotten back. 

He'd asked Ianto out, on a proper date so they could talk about it over dinner. Of course he had no idea where to actually take Ianto. They had only ever stayed at the Hub or gone to the flat. He didn't think he was getting a home cooked meal any time soon. He wanted things back how they were. He also knew that wasn't always possible. If he'd been a day later in coming back Ianto would have been gone. Packing for Glasgow with no memory of why he wanted to go there. No memory of what he would have been running from, or who. A Welshman didn't just move to Scotland because he liked whiskey. Not someone as Welsh as Ianto Jones.

He couldn't let him go, but he wasn't sure he had the right to ask him to stay. In between the disintegrating relationship with Ianto he had to deal with the aftermath of John Hart turning up in his world. Calling Ianto eye candy and chasing the easy score, like he always had. And rehab obviously hadn't worked. He'd also said there were only seven time agents now, had he been gone that long? On top of all that, he now had a team who all knew he couldn't die, something that hadn't happened for a very long time. He also hadn't had to back pedal like this when it came to a lover either. Just one more thing to add to his list of things he was going to have to explain, their dinner was going to be a right barrel of laughs. 

He smiled at the heavenly smell teasing him as Ianto brought a tray into his office. 'As I live and breathe I have missed your coffee.'  
'Just my coffee. Sir.' He put the cup on Jack's desk and turned to walk away.  
'Ianto, please, don't go.'  
'I have things to do. Sir'  
'So do I Ianto, and this is one of them. Please, stay.' Ianto had never said no to him before. 'I'm not sure how to fix this.'  
Ianto just looked at Jack a moment as he considered how to respond to that. 'Fix? Jack. Or whoever you really are. Does that mean you realize something might actually be broken?'  
'Oh I realize all right, it's a bit hard to miss. The weather outside isn't the only thing that's a bit stormy.'

Ianto rounded on Jack, his voice quiet in the stillness. 'What were you expecting? Really?'  
'I don't know.' He surprised himself at his raw honesty. 'I've never come back for someone before.'  
'Gee, thanks Jack.'  
'I'm so sorry, we were supposed to be back at the same point we left. I never meant to be gone this long.'  
'You were always coming back were you?' Ianto watched Jack carefully as he hesitated. Ianto rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. 'Really. That says it all Jack, it doesn't get any clearer than that. And you have the nerve to be surprised at it being a bit stormy around here.' He began walking away, his heart was frozen as it broke into a thousand shards of glass that seemed to crunch beneath his feet.

'Ianto! Come back, I.' Jack watched him stop in the door and look at him like he was something the younger man had stepped in.  
The voice icy cold. 'Yes Jack?'  
'Have dinner with me, tonight. We need to sort this out.'  
'Can we sort this out? Because I'm not so sure. I watched you die, twice. Then you vanished without a word and you weren't going to come back. What is there between us that you can save with words Jack? It's pretty bloody obvious how little regard you actually have for me.' Ianto walked away, he wanted to crawl under his desk and cry.

Jack sat down, it wasn't a no, exactly.

Tosh watched Ianto walk past, she was the last one left in the Hub others had already gone home. She sighed, having heard much of their exchange she debated having a word with Jack. She knew they had to sort this out for themselves but that didn't stop her being angry with Jack. She had watched Ianto fade into himself, he was like a worn piece of paper that had been folded and refolded so many times, there was almost nothing left. She shook her head as that thought bothered her and walked into Jack's office. He was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands and looked up when she softly called his name.

'Was there something you wanted to add to that Toshiko?'  
She frowned at him. 'It wouldn't be my place to say.'  
'Oh please don't let that stop you.'  
Tosh sighed, this wasn't the confident Jack who had first rescued her from her prison cell. 'What happened while you were gone?'  
'You know, no one else has asked me.'  
'You better answer it because if you were swanning about on a beach drinking cocktails and working on your tan then you deserve everything you get.'  
Jack shook his head. 'No cocktails, I saw the end of the world and lived in a paradox for a year. I died every day, not figuratively, I literally died every day. And all I could think of was right here, waiting for me in Cardiff.'  
'Do you think you were the only one who died every day you weren't here? He lost himself Jack, a little piece went missing each day and I'm surprised there's anything left.'  
'I didn't know.'  
She shook her head. 'Didn't you Jack?' Her voice accusing.  
He sighed. 'Maybe I didn't want to know.'  
'Well I hope one day you find out how it was for him while you weren't here. I'm sorry you were killed while you were away but I can't forgive you either.'

'Tosh.'

They both turned to see Ianto standing behind them, his voice soft in the shadows. 'Thank you I think I can take things from here.'  
Tosh blushed lightly before meeting his eyes.  
Jack watched an entire conversation pass in a single look as she nodded and left.  
'Were you going to tell me? And how could you be gone a year if it was only nine months?'  
Jack heard the smallness of Ianto's voice and he wondered what damage he had done in being so quick to follow the Doctor. 'It's all a bit hard to believe.'  
'I work for Torchwood Jack. Try me.'  
'The Doctor is the last of a race of Time Lords, or he was, but he is now, it got a bit confusing. The Time Lords were at war with a race of aliens you never want to met, the Darleks, and the Doctor was the last of his kind. He travels around the universe and time.'  
'I'm familiar with the theory.'  
'And for a while I travelled with him and his Rose. Until we crossed paths with some Darleks and I died. I didn't stay dead but I had no idea what had happened to me.' Jack closed his eyes at the memory of his first death before he looked at Ianto. 'I don't know if I'm explaining all this, I haven't told anyone for a very long time.'  
'That's supposed to make it okay?'  
'It doesn't excuse me, no.'

'And how much of this were you actually going to explain to me over dinner before you left?'  
Jack shrugged, there was no point lying. 'Not much, I didn't know all of it until I found the Doctor again. He always comes to Cardiff eventually, the rift fuels his Tardis. Rose apparently absorbed the heart of the Tardis and was able to bring me back from death. Except it was permanent. It was a bit of a shock when I finally figured that out. By which time I'd come to the attention of Torchwood.'  
'Alice and Emily.'  
'You've been reading the archives.'  
'I'm an archivist Jack, it's what I do when I'm not shagging the boss and making everyone coffee.'  
Jack accepted he probably deserved that. 'I finally caught up with the Doctor and he was supposed to bring me back to the point where I left here. The Tardis however some times does things for her own reasons, or the rift effected things, I'm not really sure..'

'Nine months Jack. You left me with Gwen and Owen for nine months.'  
'I'm not ecstatic either Ianto, it was a hell of a year for me too. Things happened, things I never want to remember. And I finally found out why he abandoned me. I spent close to two hundred years waiting for him to finally come back to Cardiff for him to tell me I was wrong so when he turned up I had to go, I needed him to explain.'  
'Oh, so my nine months isn't important compared to two centuries.'  
'That's not what I wanted to say. I just waited such a long time to find out why he abandoned me and if he could tell me why i don't stay dead.'  
'Well gee, I wonder what being abandoned feels like.'  
'You have every right to be angry with me.'  
'Oh really. Thank you for being so understanding Jack, that makes everything all right again. Coffee?'  
'Ianto.'

'Oh shove it Jack, I don't care any more. I quit.' He looked at Jack and nodded. 'I quit. I'm sure you hacked into my emails by now and know about Glasgow. So I'm going to take the job and bugger off to Scotland and catalogue some billionaires private collection of boring crap he brought of the internet. Maybe I'll get lucky and shag him too.'  
'I'll follow you, you have to know that where ever you go I will follow you.'  
'No Jack. You won't. Because one day I'll die and you can't follow me there.'  
Jack let out a sad sigh. This wasn't going how he had hoped it might. 'You're right, that's the one place I can't follow you.'  
'So you don't try? Loving someone isn’t supposed to diminish you.'  
'Even when I always loose them?'  
'Especially then, otherwise what's the point.'  
'Don't go to Glasgow Ianto.'  
Ianto stood there, hands in his pockets. 'What am I supposed to do Jack? Tell me. You waited for your Doctor and his time machine so you could run away. So why should I stay? What were you running from Jack?' Ianto waited for Jack to speak. That seemed to sum him up right now, waiting for Jack.

Jack dragged a hand though his hair. 'How did we go from agreeing to have dinner to this?'  
'I don't know, ask your horrible little time agency buddy. Who was he, your other work wife?'  
'Are you jealous?'  
Ianto knew that was part of it. 'Who did you come back for Jack, me, the team or Gwen?'  
'There was only one person I saw every time I came back from dying and it wasn't her.'  
'What are you saying Jack.'  
Jack walked around and sat on the edge of his desk, he needed to be closer to Ianto, it was bad enough having the emotional barrier between them, the physical one he could at least remove. 'I came back for you Jones, Ianto Jones.'  
'Doesn't bloody feel like it.' Ianto muttered softly in the growing darkness. He looked at Jack, what if they couldn't fix this. What if he couldn't forgive Jack for leaving and what if every word in his diary, written in anguish and pain over the last nine months, was it.

'What do you need from me?' Jack watched Ianto thinking, standing there with one had in his pocket. The other on the back of his neck, rubbing the back of his head messing the normally perfect hair. Jack wanted to offer to massage Ianto's shoulders and neck, he knew the younger man held his tension there. He'd never had to ask permission to touch Ianto before, it felt wrong footed.

Ianto shook his head. 'I don't know what I want, if I was a girl you could buy me something sparkly with diamonds in it, and that would help.' He dropped his hand to his hip and shook his head. 'I don't know how I feel about you Jack. One minute I want to shoot you myself.' He didn't question his candour with Jack, he just needed to speak. 'The next I'm so glad your back it doesn't matter. But it does matter and I can't live within a sea-saw. I just can't Jack, it's too hard.'  
'Is that it, do we walk away?'  
'Tell me that isn't what you normally do when the heart starts to get involved Jack. Lie to me if you have to, tell me you.' Ianto stopped as he shook his head. 'You know what, don't lie to me. You never said what this was, there was never a boundary or a definition and I never asked.'  
'Somewhere along the way things changed.'  
'Didn't stop you running away, didn't stop you wondering if you would have changed history to save a borrowed American pilot.'

'I.' Jack looked at his hands, he what? He'd run away from less before and he had definitely run away from how he felt about Ianto. It had, in hindsight, formed a great many of his waking thoughts, chained between the bars of his prison. Every beat of his heart asking him if he deserved to find his beautiful blue eyed, passionate Welshman still waiting for him when he did return. The pain carved into those same blue eyes was tearing him apart. He'd done this. He had broken Ianto and now he expected dinner and a movie to super-glue him back together. Who was he kidding. The irony of never having to work so hard for a lover not totally lost on him. How many hearts had he broken because he had kept his frozen. This man standing shattered in front of him now, this was the only one he needed to fix. Even knowing that gluing a cup back together didn't make it water tight, he had to try. 

'Tell me what you need and I'll do it.'  
Ianto shook his head, he wasn't sure he trusted what he was hearing. 'If I tell you it won't, it doesn't.' He sighed. 'I get so, when I'm around you sometimes I can't say what I need to.'  
'Not so much this time apparently.'  
Ianto shook his head. 'That is so. “Typical Jack.” Well newsflash. You have to work this one out for yourself. It won't mean anything if I tell you.' He paused, his laugh derisive. 'God I am such a girl right now.' He turned and walked away leaving Jack staring at the space he'd been standing in.

Jack poured himself a brandy. Gwen having restocked in his absence. Although it was more likely it had been Ianto. He didn't normally drink but after that somewhat emotionally charged exchange he felt it might be called for. Sipping brandy he realized he was being unfair to Ianto to call that only somewhat emotional. He knew better than most just how passionate his slightly OCD Welshman was capable of being. And it had to express itself somewhere, like a volcano. Lava if bottled up too tightly, exploded taking out everything around it at the time. Here they had been alone and it was certainly the most they had ever said regarding anything remotely emotional. He almost wished they had said a little less. And he still had no idea how to unravel it all so they could start over. That was what he needed to do, to start over. Treat Ianto as less of a dirty little guilty pleasure and more as the lover he valued and cherished. If only the Tardis had brought him back sooner. Of course the unasked question being, what would have changed if he had come back just after he'd left. Would things be any different for them or would Ianto still be his guilty pleasure. He wasn't sure the answer to that cast him in a very flattering light, none of this did, if he was honest with himself. He sighed, he had to win Ianto back. But it didn't answer the question of what this Becky person had meant by had Ianto gotten over 'his Jack'.

\----------

Jack went though his desk and found everything that clearly belonged to Gwen so he could return it to her. The photo of Rhys, a pen with a fluffy pink heart on the end, a pink stapler and paper clips. Where did someone even buy these things? He was tempted to keep the desk calender, the bunnies were quite cute and comical. He could use a good laugh right now. There wasn't much else to smile at as he wondered though the Hub alone, Ianto had gone home and left him to his thoughts. Ianto never left him at the end of the day unless they were taking separate cars back to the flat. Usually so Ianto could stop at the supermarket on the way home. So no, this wasn't really the home coming he had anticipated. He wanted to ring him and ask if they could talk but he wasn't sure what he could say that they hadn't already said. He wondered if he should turn up with flowers and a bottle of wine. Of if he'd just get the door slammed in his face.

Jack sighed as he collected up the various items of pink stationary and left them on Gwen's desk. His heart was breaking and he wondered what it had been like for Ianto while he had been gone. Things had gotten a bit, emotional just before he'd left. If he was totally honest with himself, which it seems he needed to be, he had known Ianto was falling in love with him. He'd seen the signs and it had scared him. 

Leaving him wondering what he would have said over dinner if the Doctor hadn't turned up. How much would he have explained, Alice and Steven? Or just that he didn't stay dead, that he had lived though the last hundred and seventy or so years of mankind's history and fallen out of the world he had grown up in, in the fifty first century. He had shared more of his past with the other Jack when he was in 1941 than he had shared with the man in his bed for. Jack paused, how long had they been lovers? It had been several months at the very least, and they had spent every night together, worked together every day. He wanted to bang his head against the wall at the futility of regret. Somewhere along the way, since meeting the quiet, well dressed young man he had fallen in love with Ianto Jones. And like the emotional cripple he was, he'd run away from it. 

He had so many regrets he wanted to break something. He looked around and decided to head to the shooting range, he could probably use the practice and it appealed to his need to damage things. He found a chart on the wall that wasn't there before. Torchwood Gun Club with rankings for the team. Apparently they had kept themselves amused while he was gone. He found himself wondering if any of the others had known Ianto was planning to leave Torchwood. He put his gun away and decided he didn't feel quite like shooting cardboard targets after all. 

Without Ianto what was the point of any of it. He decided to go to bed instead and wondered how it was going to feel without Ianto next to him. They were finally in the same city and still miles apart. Not just physically. He wished it would have been as simple to fix as buying Ianto diamonds, but he just wasn't that sort of person. Jack felt like he was moving though waist deep snow as he made his way back to his office and the bunker he called home. But it wasn't home without Ianto. Without his lover, it was just a metal box and a narrow bed. He dropped into the bunker and found it looked cleaner than he might have expected for being away. He knew it would have been Ianto dusting the place and keeping it fresh for him when he came back. If he had come back. What else had been taken on faith he wondered.

Jack didn't bother undressing as he threw himself down on the bed and tried to find peace in sleep. He hadn't been given an actual bed to sleep in while a guest of the Master. Time Lords and their names, and people thought he was theatrical. The theatre, that was something Ianto enjoyed, not his thing but Ianto liked it. There was bound to be something playing at the Millennium centre he could take Ianto to. And flowers, but what flowers would he buy for Ianto? Nothing with pollen that would shed everywhere, Ianto wouldn't like that. Thoughts chased each other as he considered something potted that wouldn't die straight away. He drifted to sleep as flowers floated though his thoughts, reaching out and finding himself alone.

\----------

Jack woke from dreams and grabbed his cellphone to ring Tosh, he had a plan and he needed help.

\----------

Ianto walked into the Hub following a madly apologetic Tosh.  
'I didn't think it would take so long, thank you Ianto, I didn't know what else to do.'  
Ianto sighed, she'd been there for him often enough and rarely if ever made any demands on his time. Making picking her up the least he could do. 'It's fine, besides, no one's going to say anything about us being late or I'll just shoot them.'  
'You are joking aren't you?'  
'Worried Tosh?' Ianto sighed. 'Of course I'm joking.' There wasn't anything Jack could say anyway, since he'd effectively given his notice and he still had time to accept the job in Glasgow. He had been planning on emailing in to say he wasn't going to be in, when Tosh had called him in a complete panic to ask for help. He hadn't slept well, tossing and turning as his brain worked though the words he'd exchanged with Jack. Things he never thought he would say but had anyway. And why had Jack come back now? He had spoken of this Tardis as if it was sentient and had been deliberate in bringing Jack back now. So why now, why not six months ago or two. Or nine. 

Did he even believe Jack's story, the man had sounded sincere telling it. Ianto sighed softly, feeling no closer to a decision on what he was going to do. He looked around the Hub but he didn't see Jack or any of the others. He didn't feel like dealing with the others yet, or Jack. So why was he disappointed. He watched Tosh log herself into her computer and her rift prediction programme.  
'I'll make coffee then.'  
'Okay, thanks. Ianto?' She looked at him before he moved away. 'How are you holding up?'  
'I'll be okay Tosh. We will figure it out, one way or the other.'  
'Yes but will both of you still be here when that happens?'  
Ianto shrugged. 'That I don't know. I,' He shook his head. 'I don't know how I feel about this Tosh, I thought about him being back so many times but he was never there.'  
'I think he's genuinely sorry.'  
'Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to forgive him, or that I like him very much right now.' He turned away. 'I'll put that coffee on.'

Ianto walked over to the kitchen and the coffee machine. If he left he wasn't sure what would happen, no one else seemed capable of using it to make coffee that anyone else could drink. He stopped when he reached the kitchen area. All the espresso cups were laid out on the bench with small posies of daisies in each cup. Ianto took a measured breath and looked around for Jack who was leaning against the wall, waiting.  
'Tosh didn't really need me to pick her up did she?'  
Jack shook his head. 'I asked her for help. I tried to get violets and pink carnations but apparently they aren't that easy to get hold of in Cardiff this time of year so I got daisies.'  
'Violets?'  
'Mark Twain said, “forgiveness is the fragrance the violet releases” I thought it might be appropriate.'  
'You left out the rest of the quote Jack. ”Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet releases, as the foot crushes it.” Not sure that is what you wanted to say, I hope.'  
'Google was a bit fuzzy on that point.'  
'And pink carnations?'  
'Bit girly?'  
Ianto nodded. 'A bit.' He lined the espresso cups up along the shelf above the sink and started making coffee. 'The daisies are very sweet Jack.'  
He smiled, he would take sweet if it meant they were talking. He reached out to rest a hand on Ianto's arm and hesitated, dropping his hand back by his side. 'I'll be in my office then.'  
Ianto nodded. 'Coffee wont be long.'  
Jack grinned briefly before walking away.

Ianto watched Jack, he had such a cute arse, and the daisies had been a sweet surprise. Even if it meant he now had no espresso cups and would only have to wash them all. He finished making coffee and filled his tray knowing the others would be in soon, if they weren't here yet. They seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to coffee. He left a cup on Gwen's desk and one for Owen before handing Tosh her coffee and heading into Jack's office with the last two cups on the tray. He knocked on the door and walked in, putting a cup in front of Jack he sat down in the seat by the desk and picked his own cup up. It was habit, familiar, safe.

Jack tried to swallow his grin as he sipped the coffee and looked at Ianto from beneath his eyelashes. 'You really liked the flowers?'  
Ianto nodded, worried what that might follow. 'You don't have to buy me flowers Jack.' He had visions of his desk being covered by bunches of flowers until he looked more florist than tourist office.  
'I wanted to.' What he really wanted to do was pull Ianto into his arms and breathe him in. Not being able to touch him when he was so close was worse than when they had been separated by death and torture. At least then he could tell himself Ianto was safe. He suddenly remembered something. 'Your mother's wedding? How did that go?'  
Ianto smiled. 'I gave her away, it was lovely. One of my step cousins took a bit of a shine to me though.'  
'Becky?' Jack frowned.  
Ianto shook his head. 'If you didn't hack into my emails you wouldn't misunderstand things.'  
'You knew I was going to check your emails.'  
'I didn't know you were coming back, it's not like you sent me a text message to warn me.' He looked at Jack. 'Besides, she's in London, not Cardiff or Glasgow.'  
Jack sighed, he had to bring up the damn emails and lose any ground he had been making with the flowers. 'I don't want to fight Ianto.'  
'Neither do I, Sir.'  
Jack winced at the Sir in that sentence. 'I'm trying here Ianto, I really am.'

Ianto reached out, this time he was the hesitant one as he touched the back of Jack's hand lightly before he jerked his own hand away. 'I know and it matters that you are trying. I just don't think a few flowers is going to make me forget how it felt when I came back from that coffee shop and you were gone.' He looked away. 'You didn't even leave a note.'  
Jack reached out for Ianto and refused to let go when he tried to pull away. 'I didn't think I had time and I promise you I will spend the rest of your life apologizing if you need me to.'  
Ianto looked at Jack and sighed. 'I don't need you to keep apologizing, I just need to know you aren't going to do it again. And right now I don't know how you can do that.'  
'Does that mean you aren't going to move to Glasgow?'  
'I think we both know I'm not going to move to Glasgow, I'm Welsh.'  
Jack grinned.

'Oh shut up Jack, you aren't off the hook that easily. And that isn't the only reason I'm still mad at you.'  
'This is good, we're talking. Does this mean you will have dinner with me tonight?'  
Ianto nodded.  
'Good, I have it all planned.'  
Ianto groaned. 'You aren't planning on cooking are you?'  
'I can cook.'  
This time he rolled his eyes. 'Sure, and that was what you said last time I let you loose in my kitchen.'  
Jack grinned at the memory. 'It wasn't a big fire...'  
'You melted the saucepan it wasn't a little fire either.'  
'Okay, I'm not actually cooking, but I have it all planned.'

Ianto pulled back from Jack. 'This doesn't mean I completely forgive you for taking off like that.'  
'I know, and I am sorry. I didn't know what I was running away from at the time, until it was too late.' He frowned. 'It isn't too late is it? For us?'  
'That kind of depends on what us is.'  
'And that's the problem isn't it.'  
'It doesn't bloody help.' He sighed. 'I don't know what I'm saying half the time Jack.'  
Jack shook his head. 'I don't think that's quite true, I think you know exactly what you are saying.'  
Ianto looked at Jack, he felt so close to sparking off again, he'd never reacted to Jack like this before. He'd never practically told the man he loved him before either. Love doesn't diminish... He'd been reading too many hippy self help books, and he wasn't feeling very self helped right now. 'Does it matter what I say?'  
'Only if you say you are serious about going to Glasgow.'  
'Would you really follow me to Scotland? I'd have retconned myself so I wouldn't know you.'  
'Do you think that would make a difference?' Jack set his empty coffee cup back on Ianto's tray. 'Whatever we recognized in each other, that is still there or we wouldn't be hurting like we are.'

'You have no idea what it was like for me while you were gone.’ He’d spent months wondering if Owen had been right the entire time, that he really was only a part time shag. The poor tea boy the Captain felt sorry for so he fucked him. Not knowing if Jack was okay or if he had even found someone else. Ianto rose to his feet and moved away with his tray and the two empty coffee cups. 'You don't know what it was like. Tosh holding my hand while we had to put up with Owen and Gwen bickering like children fighting over the toys you left behind.' He shook his head. 'The nights were the worst, after Tosh would leave I would pour myself into an empty bed and hope I didn't dream of you. I dried up and blew away in the wind your absence created.' There was so much more he wanted to say but he chose to walk away before he could completely embarrass himself.

'Bugger!' Jack leaped out of his chair and chased after Ianto, he couldn't let the younger man walk away, not like this. Gwen tried to intercept him but he ignored her as he ran after Ianto, taking the tray from his hands when he caught up to him. Putting it on the floor he pulled Ianto through a door, into a tiny room that was little more than a broom cupboard. He wondered if he could fix all this by just telling Ianto he loved him too. He didn't think it was going to be that easy as he pulled him into his arms and held him. Let the others talk, he no longer cared.

Ianto felt like he was finally able to let go of the tension holding him together as he felt Jack just hold him in the darkness. He'd forgotten this cupboard was even here, and wasn't sure why that thought should be important right now. He gave his brain a rest and just  
let Jack hold him. If he kept this up he would have nothing left to say. He also mused over how much simpler life had been when they had talked less and fucked more.

\----------

Gwen sat at her desk and harrumphed loudly, still getting used to not being in charge.  
Tosh looked up and frowned. 'Did you say something Gwen?'  
'I wanted to talk to Jack but he pushed past me while chasing after Ianto.'  
Owen looked up from his own desk. 'I thought I saw them vanish into the broom cupboard.'  
'Well I just hope they can sort this out.' Tosh turned back to her calculations.  
'But I really need to talk to Jack.'  
Tosh looked at Owen and they both sighed.  
'Why?' Owen asked. “Is the world ending?'  
'Owen.'  
He wheeled his chair over to Gwen's desk. 'Is something going to explode or the world end because they are in the closet together?' He laughed at his own joke. 'I thought they were sort of out now...'  
Gwen sighed. 'But it's important Owen.'  
'Your important, or their important Gwen?'  
Tosh found herself more a little surprised at Owen's sensitivity to Jack and Ianto as she listened to the conversation between her peers. 

'Don't you think they,' waving in the direction of the broom cupboard Owen continued talking quietly to Gwen. 'Might need some time to work things out. Or do you like decaf? Because lets face it, Ianto has a mean streak when Jack isn't around. I mean, who knew, but he does.'  
Gwen shook her head. 'That was horrible, I hate decaf.'  
'Then give them some space for all our sake’s.'  
She frowned as a thought suddenly crossed her mind. 'So which one do you think is on top then?'  
Owen blanched. 'Sweet Jesus, why would you even want to know.'  
'Wouldn't it be uncomfortable?'  
Owen rolled his chair back to his desk and shook his head. 'That's all I need to think about, thank you very much. I still wake up with the image of them together burned into my brain some mornings.'  
'Just asking.' She muttered to herself. 'Don't have to bite my head off.'  
Tosh exchanged a look with Owen as they both rolled their eyes before making sure they found things to do. Depending on Jack's mood when he and Ianto did come out of the closet they didn't want to wind up doing audits on random alien artifacts. It was easier to look busy.


	2. Two

Meanwhile, in the broom cupboard. 

Jack held Ianto, he had waited a lifetime to hold this man in his arms again. Several lifetimes really. He hadn't considered how it would be to be left behind and he wondered if this was why the Tardis had brought him back here, now. Just before Ianto finally gave up on him and left. So he held Ianto and made do with the knowledge that although hesitant, he wasn't the only one holding on in the darkness.He thought coming back from death was like being dragged over broken glass as he felt Ianto start to pull away.  
'Ianto.'  
'Jack.'  
Jack grinned in the darkness, his hand reaching out to Ianto, cupping his check and brushing his hand down until it rested on his shoulder. 'I missed you.'  
'What really happened Jack?'  
'While I was gone or why I left?'  
'Yes.'  
'It's not something I really want to think about right now.' He forced memories down. 'When I told Tosh I lived in a paradox for a year I wasn't exaggerating.'  
'And dying every day?'  
'Once they worked out I didn't stay dead, my prison guards were methodical to say the least. Not particularly inventive, just methodical.'  
'So you actually died and I just wished I had.'  
'I never wanted that for you.'   
Jack brushed a kiss over Ianto's temple. 'I was gone, and I didn't want to admit it, but you were right. You asked if I had any intentions of coming back, and at the time I left, I didn't.' He held him in his arms and felt the younger man bristle at that admission. 'And to my shame and eternal regret I didn't realize what I was running away from. Once I did I knew I had to do whatever it took to get back. To you.' His voice quiet in the dark. 'It was always you and I didn't want to admit it.'

Faced with the raw honesty in Jack's voice Ianto felt his defences crumbling. 'Are you scared now?'  
'Yes, but not of this.' He brushed kisses along Ianto's temple, over his eyelids and down his cheek until their lips met in the darkness. Every unspoken desire filled that kiss with promises made in hunger. Hunger that might have been taken further if not for a knock at the cupboard door. Jack let Ianto go, a soft sigh between them as they reluctantly pulled apart. Opening the door Jack stepped back into the Hub, no softness in his voice.   
'This better be good.'  
Gwen jumped back when Jack glared at her, waiting.  
'Well? Is something on fire, alien invasion or is it the end of the world again?'  
'Garden gnomes.'

Jack frowned, she looked serious. 'I don't own a garden so as far as a welcome home gift goes, a garden gnome isn't really very useful.'  
She shook her head. 'No, but, no.'  
Jack sighed, the whole world was going mad. 'But?'  
Tosh called out, rescuing Gwen, as much fun as watching this was they still had a job to do. 'We've had a spike in rift activity and reports of garden gnomes causing, well, disturbances.'  
'If I find out this is the garden gnome liberation front or something I'm going to be very angry.'  
Ianto picked his tray up and escaped to the kitchen, leaving Jack to deal with the gnomes. What sort of disturbance could they possibly cause? Although, if he thought about it, they were creepy looking, and he'd never been completely convinced they were just statues. 

\----------

Ianto looked up as Owen walked into the Hub holding a hysterical cat cage, looking like something out of a bad cartoon with the entire cage jumping. It was growling as Owen set it down, he looked up.   
'What am I supposed to do with that?'  
'I don't know, archive it.'  
He stood there staring at the cage as it continued to thump about the table. 'How many are in there?'  
'Just the one.'  
Ianto frowned at Owen, who was enjoying this just a little too much. He pointed at the gyrating cage. 'One garden gnome?'  
Owen nodded. 'I don't suppose there's a coffee going?'  
'On your desk I just put one there.' Ianto found he was tipping his head from side to side as he followed the movements of the cage. He looked up at Jack who was standing there grinning at him.   
'What exactly am I supposed to do with this? I don't have time for a pet, it's a full time job just tidying up after you lot.'  
Jack shrugged. 'I don't even know what it eats, although it was chasing a chihuahua until we managed to get it in the cage and I don't think it's intentions were friendly.'

Ianto leaned closer peering between the bars he was greeted with a tiny mouth filled with sharp teeth that belonged to a potato shaped something. 'Not an attractive looking thing is it.'  
'Just don't stick your finger in the cage.'  
'I'll keep that in mind, Sir.' He looked up at Jack and pointed at the tray on the table. 'Coffee.'  
Jack grinned as he picked the cup up. 'Thank you Ianto, any ideas on what we can do with your little friend?'  
'I can think of a few but you wouldn't like them.'  
'Ianto.'  
'Has anyone scanned it yet?'  
Jack shook his head. 'Gwen and Tosh started to scan it but, well, the teeth are apparently very sharp. And it's deceptively agile.'  
Ianto stepped back. 'I think I'll take this down to Owen, he can scan it or something.'

Before Ianto could gingerly pick the cage up Jack pulled him into his arms. 'We have some unfinished business Ianto Jones.' He ran the tip of his index finger across his lower lip before following it with a kiss, light and suggestive.  
Ianto pulled away. 'I.' He looked away from Jack before meeting his gaze again. 'I still don't know that I like you very much right now.'  
'Just have dinner with me.' He held his breath as he waited for Ianto to say something.  
Ianto nodded as he looked at the cage still bouncing on the table.  
'Is that a yes?'  
'Yes, yes. I should get this back to Owen, although why he gave it to me in the first place is beyond me.' He picked the cage up it was deceptively heavy.

Ianto stopped when he reached the rails around the autopsy table. Gwen was leaning over with her pants pulled down just far enough to expose the top of her butt and a rather impressive bite mark. One Owen was currently swabbing.  
Ianto cleared his throat. 'If you wanted a moment alone you only had to ask, or hang a sock on the door or something.' He watched Gwen flush scarlet, so she could blush. He looked up as Tosh walked towards him and took the cat cage with its wriggling occupant off his hands.  
'Is this cage going to contain it? I don't like the idea of it getting loose.' Thinking of her computer cables and the creatures teeth.  
Ianto frowned. 'I don't know if we have anywhere else to put it. But I have to ask, is it wearing a red hat?'  
'What?'  
'While you were out I did some research and male gnomes are supposed to wear red hats.'

Tosh marvelled at how Ianto could keep a straight face.  
Owen rolled his eyes as he reached for the iodine, wiping it over Gwen's bite as she jumped.  
'You could have warned me.'  
Owen grinned. 'Why start now.' As he taped a dressing over the bite and offered to help her pull her pants back up after he gave her a tetanus shot and a general antibiotic, just in case. He reached for her arm and moved her sleeve aside exposing a wicked looking scratch. He repeated the process, first he swabbed the area to test for anything she might have a reaction to, then he used iodine on the scratch and dressed it. He ignored her frown as he prepared slides for the microscope.  
Gwen looked at the sleeve of her shirt. 'This was new, it's ruined now.'  
Tosh looked up from the creature in the cage and frowned. 'It's just a shirt.' She looked for Ianto and wondered where he had gone. She just shook her head and tried to scan the gnome as best she could without taking it out of it's cage. If she could identify what it was they would have a better idea of understanding where it had come from. Was it alien or some sort of previously undiscovered creature, less likely was the idea that garden gnomes actually existed and they had finally caught one.

Jack looked around and checked the CCTV footage, Gwen was looking at the holes in her shirt. Owen was peering at slides with his microscope and Tosh was trying to scan the gnome. But he didn't see Ianto. He scanned the different screens until he saw movement in one of the lower basements of the Hub. He wondered what he was doing and decided to find out. He found Ianto throwing back a drop cloth.  
Ianto looked up. 'Good, can you get the other end of this cloth.'  
'What are you doing?'  
'I know there is another cage around here somewhere, I remember seeing one when I was first moving stuff around down here.'  
Jack was fairly sure he was referring to the time he had stashed his partly converted cyber girlfriend in the basement as the time he had been moving things around. 'Why do you want another cage?'  
Ianto looked at Jack for a moment before lifting a tarp. 'Obviously I don't think the cat cage is going to hold the gnomey thing. It's too small to put in one of the cells, it would get out the holes. And I know there is another cage around here somewhere.'  
Jack hadn't thought about the gnome getting out. 'That little bugger was a devil to catch, have you looked over here?'  
Ianto shook his head and grinned. 'Got it.' He pulled out what looked like a bird cage, as he turned. He misjudged his step and fell towards Jack, the cage dropping to the floor.  
Jack caught Ianto and grinned down at him a moment before helping him to his feet and picking up the cage. 'I knew you would fall for me eventually.'  
Ianto sighed softly. 'Of course, Sir.' He watched where he put his feet as he followed Jack out of the basement. Following where Jack led.

\----------

Ianto washed the last of the coffee cups, Jack had banished him to the kitchen while he got everything ready for their dinner date. Whatever that meant. If Jack was being cheep and just ordering in a Chinese he was going home. He started drying the cups, if he was honest he wasn't going home. Despite the question pricking his awareness, leaving him wondering if he being too quick to forgive Jack. He shook his head to dispel that thought, he hadn't forgiven the man. Like any love sick sap he would give him another chance but it wasn't the same as forgiveness.  
Part of him didn't trust Jack quite as implicitly as he had before. He'd been more than a little rocked by the revelation that he'd run away and hadn't planned to come back. Not straight away, not until at some, as yet undefined point, he had realized what he'd run away from, what he wanted to come back for. Jack had also implied there had been no intention of telling him as much. Not if he'd expected to be brought back to the same point where he'd left. Hardly the sort of admission designed to inspire confidence in the neglected lover. Ianto put the last cup away and brushed the petal of one of the daisies still filling his espresso cups, the petal soft to the touch like butterfly wings. He knew Jack was watching him.

'I've got every thing ready if you are.'  
Ianto nodded, he was nervous about what Jack might have done. Sometimes Jack's idea of a surprise was the sort of thing you couldn't tell your mother about. Not that he'd ever objected at the time, but this wasn't the place for chocolate body paint, whipped cream or silk scarves. Maybe it was going to be silk scarves after all when Jack blindfolded him. Ianto let Jack lead him through the Hub, he didn't even try to work out where going. Concentrating instead on the man next to him, holding his arm as he guided him to their destination. 

Jack stopped Ianto and removed the blindfold, tucking it in his pocket in case they wanted it later. Ianto blinked a few times as he adjusted to the soft lighting. They were in the shooting range after some sort of fairy princess make over. Fairy lights hung around the ceiling looking like glow worms and candles covered several flat surfaces. In a clearing Jack had created was a blanket and piles of cushions and a picnic. There was a large screen television wheeled into the room and soft music in the background. Other than the fact that they were sharing the room with cardboard weevils, it was rather magical as Ianto looked at Jack.   
'Dinner and a movie?'  
Jack nodded. 'I figured we probably still have a few things to talk about and I didn't think a table in a restaurant was quite it. Here we don't have to worry about anyone hearing anything about aliens and rift fragments or gnomes.'

Ianto recognized the wisdom of that and he felt slightly petty in wishing they were out in public. On the other hand, not actually knowing where his relationship with Jack stood he also wasn't sure he was ready to be out in a public place. And he wasn't sure what else there was to say.  
Jack stood closer to Ianto and lowered his voice as he spoke in the Welshman's ear. 'Next time I'm thinking we could try the Italian place on the corner. You could wear your double breasted pinstripe suit.'   
'That would be nice. Although that suit does seem to give you ideas.'  
Jack grinned taking him by the hand and leading him to the pile of cushions he encouraged him to sit. He had laid out a feast of Ianto's favourite deli foods. Stuffed bell peppers, olives, smoked salmon, fresh soft cheeses and crusty bread.  
Ianto took the glass of wine he was handed. 'You have been busy.'   
'Life isn't all gnome hunts. Speaking of which, is our little guest tucked in for the night?'

Ianto nodded. 'I found some mesh to put over the holes in the cell next to our resident weevil and dumped his cages in there.'  
'So that's three cages.'  
'You saw that things teeth.'  
'Fair point.' He picked up his own glass of wine. 'Here is to dinner without interruptions.'  
Ianto groaned. 'Did you have to say that?'  
'Are all Welsh this superstitious or is it just you?'  
Ianto sipped his wine and let the day fade away. 'You just remember that when I'm saying I told you so.'  
'You’re with the Captain, nothing bad will happen while you're with me.'  
'You say that now Jack.' Ianto muttered darkly. 'You say that now.'

\----------

Jack lounged back on a pile of cushions looking every inch the Roman Emperor with his bunch of grapes. 'Owen and Gwen. I heard rumours of decaf.'  
'Ah.' Ianto set his plate aside.  
'Not a rumour then?'  
He shook his head. 'It was awful, they left me no choice they were constantly bickering, children are better behaved.'  
'You have children Ianto?'  
'You know I have a niece and nephew.'  
'What are they like?'  
'Like kids.' Ianto shrugged. 'They like crisps and playstation and driving my sister up the wall.'  
'Do you want kids?'  
'Isn't that getting a bit ahead of things Jack? I still haven't forgiven you for leaving.'

Jack sighed softly. Everything was a minefield between them and he didn't have a map. Each time he thought he was getting somewhere he lost ground just as quickly. 'Am I always going to be two steps forward and one step back?'  
'Probably.' Ianto said bluntly. 'I'm not ready to let go the pain and I don't know when I will be.'  
'That was honest.'  
'I would hope we were beyond lies.'  
'And the rest of the gulf between us Ianto? Can we at least bridge the gap?'  
He nodded. 'I want to be able to.'  
Jack leaned and kissed him. He'd take what Ianto was willing to offer right now.

Ianto sighed as Jack kissed him, sweet, hesitant, a gentle touch that grew as both men relaxed into each other. Hands tracing faces with fingertips hungry to connect, to touch, to remember. Jack found himself tugging at the knot of Ianto's tie before moving on to buttons. He needed to touch and press himself against skin, to absorb him into his soul. Ianto was just as frantic to get Jack undressed until they both lay body to body. Buttons undone and shirts shoved aside, pants pushed down to their knees. Hands stroking each other as they both tried to lead, desperate to erase the long lonely nights spent in separate beds. To sink themselves deeper in each others bodies. Jack wrestled control and was kissing his way down Ianto's spine as his hands stroked Ianto's arse having found the lube.   
Ianto gasped. 'Cold Jack.'  
Jack kissed Ianto's neck. 'Yeah, I really must write them a letter about that.' He hesitated as he looked at Ianto lying in a pile of cushions and cursed himself for being so slow to see what he had been leaving behind. 'I am so sorry Ianto.'  
'Oh shut up and fuck me.'  
'Ianto!' Jack's grin was short lived as pants began vibrating at his ankles. He reached down for his phone fumbling around for the pocket. 'This better be important.' He hissed into the phone.

Ianto sighed as he watched Jack's expression change.  
'Okay. We'll see you both in about five then.' Jack brushed his fingers over Ianto's jaw before stepping back to pull his clothes together.  
Ianto rolled onto his back and looked up. 'Gnomeus Interuptous?'  
Jack shook his head before he realized what Ianto meant and nodded as he helped him to his feet. He gave a regretful look at Ianto's cock and sighed. 'Owen is bringing Gwen back in, she's had a reaction to our little friend.'  
Ianto pulled his clothes together. 'The swabs came up clean.'  
'I know but we may have to swab the little guy's mouth just to be sure.'  
Ianto frowned. 'Can't we just replace Gwen with Andy?'  
'Ianto.'  
'What? We worked with him a few times while you were away, he's got a good sense of humour and he's police, they must be interchangeable.' He looked at the remains of the picnic. 'I'll clean this up, I've seen enough of Gwen's bum to last me a lifetime.'  
Jack reached out. 'It's not her arse I'd rather be looking at either.' He gave him the barest hint of a kiss.  
Ianto kissed him back. 'Leave this I'll sort it out.'  
Jack grinned. 'Maybe leave the blanket and pillows?'  
Ianto rolled his eyes. 'Just the dishes then.' Secretly grinning as he watched start to Jack walk away. 'Oh Jack.' He called out. 'Just in case I forget later, I told you so.'

\----------

Jack waited in the autopsy suite for Gwen and Owen, cursing them and the gnome for interrupting his plans. If not for this he'd have been reacquainting himself with Ianto right now. He groaned as he felt his cock harden at the thought. Bloody Gwen getting bitten on the arse by a bloody gnome. He looked up as she walked into the room with Owen at her side. She was limping slightly and cradling her arm against her chest.   
'You all right Gwen?'  
She shook her head. 'It burns Jack.' Tears pooling in her eyes.  
Jack tried not to breathe deeply. 'Doesn't smell too good either.'  
'I don't like it Jack.' Owen growled. 'I swabbed her before and there was nothing unusual then, I swear.'  
Jack nodded. 'Run what tests you can and see what shows up, we will figure this out. And somehow we need to swab the bloody gnome too.'  
Owen shook his head. 'Not me, I've got this to deal with.' He pulled fresh gloves on and started peeling back the towel on Gwen's arm. The scratch was raw and angry with orange goo oozing out. Gwen winced when he touched the area around it. 'Sorry darlin' I know this hurts.'  
'Not like I'll hurt you if you call me darling again.'  
Owen just grinned, that was the response he'd been looking for, that was the Gwen he knew. 'You just hold on to that thought because your butt is next.'

Ianto stood in the kitchen watching Jack walk towards him, his expression thoughtful. Ianto was fairly sure that wasn't good.  
'We need to swab the gnome.'  
'With the teeth on that thing? Can we put it in the freezer or something? I saw what it did to Gwen.'  
'That's exactly why we need to swab it, and we don't know what putting it in the freezer will do.'  
'Where is a pair of metal mittens when you need them.'  
'Ianto, this isn't the time for jokes.'  
'Who's joking.' Ianto put his tray down and considered their options. 'I might have an idea, if I can just remember where I last saw it, them.'  
'Saw what?' Jack watched Ianto opening draws and rummaging through cupboards in the kitchen.  
Ianto pushed jars aside and ignored the spoons until he saw what he had been looking for. Smiling as he extracted a pair of wicked looking tongs.  
Jack grinned. 'Do I want to know what those are?'  
'Jam jar tongs, Sir.'  
'Is that their technical name?'  
'Yes, I believe so.' He handed them to Jack. 'We need gloves and swabs.'  
Jack followed Ianto into autopsy where Owen looked up.  
'Oi, I was looking for them.'  
Ianto smiled his Mona Lisa smile. 'I'm not surprised you couldn't find them, they were in a draw in the kitchen.'  
Owen rolled his eyes as he returned his attention to cleaning Gwen's wounds.

Ianto collected swabs and gloves before heading to the cells. He was almost relieved to see the cage still bouncing around meaning it hadn't escaped. But it also meant it was still alive. He started singing softly under his breath. 'Gnome body knows the trouble I've seen. Gnome body knows but me.'  
'Ianto.'  
Ianto looked up before opening the door to the cell. 'What?'  
'Gnome body knows?'  
'You would prefer Abba? Gnoming me, gnoming you, it's the best I can do...'  
Jack followed him into the cell and shut the door. 'While I appreciate that you do have a lovely, bluesy, soulful voice, I don't think serenading the gnome will help.'  
'It helps me.' Ianto muttered as he reached out to the first cage and pulled the top open to reach the cage inside it. 'I'll open the cage and you grab the little bugger with the tongs.'  
Jack shook his head. 'No way, I'm the Captain, I'll open the cage and you use the tongs.'  
Ianto shrugged as he took the tongs and handed Jack the swabs. 'Fine, then you can swab the gnome, ready?'  
Jack stood there a moment with mouth open. Ianto had played him.   
'You trying to catch flies too?'  
Jack shut his mouth as he watched Ianto tilt the cat cage so the door was facing up and the gnome rolled to the bottom. Opening the door he swooped in with the tongs and grabbed the gnome. Jack had to admit, he made it look easy.

Ianto pulled the gnome carefully to the top of the cage and Jack got a swab ready to stick in the gnome's mouth. Getting it to open it's mouth was surprisingly easy as it hissed and spat at them. Swabbing it's claws wasn't as it tried to fend them off. Jack managed to avoid being scratched or bitten as Ianto lowered the gnome back into the cage and slammed the door shut. He lowered the cat cage into the larger cage. Then he pulled a container out of his pocket, he'd brought some of the picnic left overs with him, which he proceeded to shove into the cat cage for the gnome. Ianto looked up at Jack. 'What, you wouldn't let me put it in the freezer, it has to eat something.'  
'I'm starting to think we should have put it in the freezer.'   
Ianto locked the cell door and turned to Jack. 'You aren't usually in such a hurry to do that if the alien or whatever, hasn't tried to kill one of us first.'  
Jack leaned over and kissed him.  
'Not in front of the weevil Jack.' He grinned as he give Jack a quick kiss of his own. 'Come on, lets get your swabs to Owen and his mass spectrometer. The sooner we figure this out the sooner we can get back to what we were doing.' Walking along he started singing softly. 'If you don't gnome me by now. You will never, never, never gnome me. No you wont. If you don't gnome me by now, you will never, never, never gnome me, you will never, never, never gnome me.'

They walked back into autopsy and Jack looked at Gwen. 'We got your swabs, how are you?'  
She giggled. 'Owen gave me something.'  
Jack looked at Ianto and shook his head. Sighing softly Ianto began preparing the swabs for the mass spectrometer. 

'Best I can tell Jack, the gnome has some sort of venom in it's saliva, or something that acts that way in contact with humans. I've given her something for the pain and drained the wounds as best I can. I'll know more when I know what the mass spec makes of it all.'  
'You could try a poultice.' Ianto looked up. 'A simple bread poultice will help draw anything out, maybe add a little vinegar.'  
'We aren't making a salad dressing Ianto.'  
'You are a doctor, you must have heard of folk remedies. Honey, garlic, bread, hot water and vinegar. My mam used it all the time. Good for bruises to, if you leave out the honey and garlic.'  
Jack looked at Ianto, he didn't easily give up the secrets of his childhood. Even his file before his father died was sketchy to say the least. Shoplifting when he was fifteen was about the only thing of note. He looked at Owen. 'We have all those things in the kitchen, it can't hurt to try.'  
'Fine, you take Jamie Oliver and bring me back a poultice. I'll wait for the mass spec to give me some scientific results. Oh and Jack.' Owen called out as they started walking towards the kitchen. 'Don't shag about yeah.'

In the kitchen Jack looked at Ianto. 'Did you enjoy shooting him?'  
'Of course I did.'  
'And the decaf?'  
Ianto nodded as he found a bowl and started assembling the poultice. 'Could you put the kettle on.'  
'You want a cup of tea?'  
'No, boiling water for the poultice. But I should make coffee while you boil the kettle, I suspect we are in for a long night.'  
'Not for the reason I would have preferred.'  
'I said I told you so before didn't I?'  
'You did.' Jack nodded as he lit the hob for the kettle. 'But please, tell me again.'  
Ianto smiled and shook his head while he set the coffee to percolate. 'This no shagging around, did it include no kissing?'  
Jack shook his head this time. 'I don't think it did. Besides, you're with the Captain, remember.' He pulled Ianto into his arms and teased him with a kiss more air than lips. 

\----------

Owen changed the poultices, he'd grudgingly had to admit Ianto's recipe seemed to be working. Gwen's wounds were no longer angry and raw and had stopped oozing orange pus. Between the poultice and the chemical cocktail of painkillers and antibiotics she was dozing fitfully.

Ianto poured fresh coffee. Jack lingered as his hand brushed Ianto's, watching him try to stifle a yawn.   
'What time is it?'  
'Just after midnight, Sir.'  
Jack sighed. 'Go home Ianto, get some sleep. Owen and I will hold down the fort.'  
Ianto shook his head. 'I don't think I should go anywhere, I'd rather not fall asleep at the wheel.'  
'Subtle.' Jack grinned. 'You could always take my bed and get some sleep.'  
'And you?'  
'Depends on how this goes, I might be able to join you later although I'm not sure I wont just fall asleep myself.'  
Ianto yawned again. 'I'm not sure I'd notice, I didn't exactly sleep well last night.'  
'Go, and Ianto.' Jack wrapped his arms around him. 'Thank you for staying.'  
'Oh god. Please tell me you're not going to turn into one of those apologetic sad sacks that's going to please and thank you me to death.'  
Jack kissed his forehead. 'I'm just not sure what you need from me.'  
'Be yourself and don't run away again would be a good start.'  
Jack smiled as he let Ianto pull away. 'Go, get some sleep.'  
'Well, don't you stay up all night either.'

Owen walked into the room and threw himself onto the sofa. 'Get a room you two.'  
'Funny, I was just trying to talk Ianto into going to bed myself.'  
Owen groaned. 'I asked for that didn't I. Both of you get some sleep, Gwen's on the other couch, she isn't waking up any time soon. If you promise not to make too much noise I can crash here.'  
Jack looked at Ianto who was practically dead on his feet. 'I don't think there's much risk of that right now.'  
Owen rolled onto his side and looked back over his shoulder. 'Well you keep that in mind then.'  
'Jack.'  
'Come on Ianto, bed.'  
'What about the shooting range.'  
'I don't think any one wants to sleep there.'  
Ianto shook his head. 'No, the cushions.'  
'We can sort them out later, right now I need you in my bed.' He directed Ianto towards the bunker entrance before he looked back at Owen who was trying to use his jacket as a pillow. He realized what Ianto was trying to say. 'Owen, there is a blanket and a pile of cushions in the shooting range, if you want them, might make that sofa more comfortable.'  
'Thanks Jack, I might do that.' He looked at his watch. 'I'll probably be about twenty minutes, I should check on Gwen anyway.'  
Jack looked down into his bunker where Ianto was already asleep. 'I wouldn't worry about it Owen, he needs sleep, we all do. But my bed is not big enough for three.' He grinned as Owen blanched at the very idea before wondering off to find a blanket.

Owen wasn't quite sure why there would be a blanket and pillows in the shooting range, he was however quite sure he didn't want to know.

Jack climbed down into the bunker and pulled the hatch shut behind him. He hadn't tested the soundproof nature of the bunker before, he'd never needed to. He kicked his shoes off as he eased himself down next to Ianto, he didn't want to wake the sleeping man as he started to undress him. It was a measure of how tired he had been to fall asleep on the bed fully dressed. Satisfied they were both undressed enough he pulled a blanket over them. Wrapping his arm around Ianto he finally felt home as he fell asleep.

\----------

Ianto woke from a dream filled with Jack, opening his eyes he wondered if he was still dreaming as the man’s blue eyes looked back at him. 'I'm not dreaming this time am I.'  
Jack shook his head before kissing Ianto good morning.   
He smiled. 'So which was the dream? You being gone or the gnome.'  
Jack sighed. 'Neither. Come on, before Owen tries to make coffee.'  
'Not unless he wants me to shoot him in the other shoulder.'  
'I thought that might work, and much as I would prefer us to both stay here, we have to get up. I think I saw one of your shirts in the wardrobe.'  
Ianto looked at the alarm and groaned. 'It's too early Jack.'  
'I know.'  
Ianto started getting dressed. 'And Gwen?'  
Jack helped Ianto find his tie. 'She's sleeping, Owen's with her now.' He leaned against the wall of his bunker as he watched Ianto fix his tie. He liked seeing him a little rumpled like this.  
'I'll make the coffee then.'

Jack followed Ianto out of the bunker and wondered if dinner tonight would have less interruptions. 'I'll check on the gnome while you do that.' He hesitated, he wanted to pull Ianto into his arms and kiss him again but he still felt a wall between them. It wasn't as high as before but it was still there. 'Ianto.'  
Ianto turned to look back. 'Yes?'  
'Dinner tonight? Can we try again?'  
He smiled. 'Hopefully we won't be interrupted.'  
Jack grinned as he headed to the cells, wondering if he should have grabbed the tongs.

\----------

Ianto handed Owen coffee, the man looked exhausted. 'It's the industrial strength stuff, you look like you need it. How is she?'  
'I'm not too proud to say your mother's recipe worked, or it helped. She's asleep, the fever broke not long after you went to bed and there has been no orange goo since then.'  
'Delightful, did you get any sleep?'  
Owen shrugged. 'Not really, even with a pile of cushions and a blanket, turns out the sofa, not that comfortable.'  
Ianto grinned, he could have told Owen that, but he hadn't asked.  
Owen hesitated. 'You and Jack? Are you guys going to be okay? I wouldn't normally care mind, but you.' Owen sighed. 'Tosh should be having this conversation with you, not me.'  
'Drink your coffee Owen, I'll call Tosh and ask her to bring in some pastries or something.'  
They both looked up as Jack walked in with the cat cage.  
He set it on the table. 'I think it's dead. It smells dead.' He looked at Ianto. 'Now you can put it in the freezer.'  
Owen sipped his coffee. 'I'll autopsy it later, I'm too shagged right now.' He rolled his shoulders to try and loosen them up.  
'I know I smell coffee, but did I hear something about pastries?'  
Ianto handed Jack a coffee and pulled his cellphone out to call Tosh as he moved away to one side.  
Jack looked over in Gwen's direction. 'What did she tell Rhys?'  
Owen shook his head. 'Not a clue, and that sofa, not so comfortable.'  
'I know. Try sharing it with him.' Jack grinned.

'I'd rather not.'  
'Probably just as well. Look, once she's out of the woods and that gnome has been sliced and diced you should head home and get some sleep yourself.'  
'Thanks Jack, and next time we see a gnome, can we just shoot it and be done with it.'  
Jack nodded. 'Just make sure you identify your target.'  
'I'm going to have nightmares about this for weeks, I can just tell.'  
'With all the things we deal with every day, this is what will keep you awake at night?'  
'That and this coffee, yes.' Owen looked over at Jack. 'Oi, Jack.'  
'Owen?'  
'You ever do that again, if you leave him like that, I will shoot you.'  
'Haven't we already done that?'  
'Yeah, but when you were gone, well, don't let those big blue Welsh eyes fool you Jack. He's got a mean streak in him that tea boy of yours.'  
'Why do you think I tell you not to call him that.'  
'No, it was more than that.' Owen shook his head as he muttered into his coffee. 'Much more than that.'

Jack moved like a man deep in thought, which he was. They had all said something to him now about how it had been for Ianto, while he'd been gone. Well, Gwen had mainly whinged about how it had been for her with Ianto giving her decaf all the time. But even Owen was being sensitive to Ianto, which he hadn't expected. He wondered what else he had missed and if that meant he and Ianto still had a few more things to work out between them. It occurred to him that if Ianto hadn't at least been willing to meet him somewhere in the middle then this angst would have started getting old. As it stood, he had a relationship to save.

\----------

Tosh walked into a very subdued Hub. She gathered from her conversation with Ianto that the evening events had not quite gone according to Jack's plan. She had thought it was an excellent plan and was disappointed on his behalf. She handed him the bag of pastries she’d picked up. 'Where are the others?'  
Ianto handed her a coffee. 'Probably in autopsy.'  
'She didn't?'  
'No, but the gnome did.' Ianto walked through the Hub with Tosh, finding Jack watching Owen.

Owen looked up. 'Go on then, say it.'  
Ianto gave Owen the ghost of a smile. 'How's the gnortopsy going then?'  
Owen rolled his eyes as Tosh giggled.  
'I shouldn't have encouraged him, he was singing last night, it was awful.'  
'I think Ianto has a lovely singing voice.'  
'You would, but you didn't hear what he was singing.'  
'I think my favourite was.' Jack took a danish from Ianto as he waded into the conversation, singing softly. 'If you don't gnome me by now, you will never never never gnome me...'  
Owen shook his head. 'Not, gnoming me, gnoming you then.'  
'He's not an Abba fan.'  
'Maybe another time. Are you finding anything Owen?'  
'Waiting on some tests but I think where ever our vicious little friend was from they have slightly different air composition. It looks like he suffocated over night. I'll know more when the tests come back.'  
'Right, after that, check on Gwen and go home. Unless anything else goes wrong your paperwork can wait until Monday.' Jack looked at Ianto who shrugged before he moved over to Gwen who was starting to wake up. Her voice groggy, disorientated.  
'Is that coffee and what are you all doing in my flat.' 

She rubbed her eyes and looked around. 'I'm not in my flat.'  
'How are you feeling Gwen?'  
She winced as she straightened up. 'God, like someone took a blow torch to me.' She looked from Jack to Ianto as a coffee was put in her hands. 'Thanks, but why does the coffee smell like garlic?'  
Owen pulled fresh gloves on as he walked over to Gwen. 'That's because Jamie Oliver here made a poultice to help draw out the gnome goo.' He checked her arm. 'It was surprisingly effective.'  
'Maybe surprising to you.' Ianto muttered softly.  
Gwen smiled. 'Well thank you, all of you.'

'I could have been helpful.'  
Jack smiled at Tosh. 'No point all of us loosing sleep last night. In fact, we should all probably go back to bed and leave you in charge.'  
Owen snapped the gloves off and yawned. 'I think that's a fantastic idea, although I'm going to find my own bed. I can drop you home if you like Gwen.'  
She shook her head. 'I'd rather stay here.' She looked at four pairs of eyes staring at her in disbelief. 'It's my mother, she has this sixth sense for knowing then I'm home. She'll just call me about the wedding.'  
Owen shrugged. 'If no one needs me?' He grinned as everyone shook their heads. 'See you all Monday.'  
Jack looked at Ianto. 'Come on, I'll buy you breakfast to go with the danish. I feel like bacon and eggs.'  
Ianto looked at Tosh and shrugged. 'I've got my cellphone if you need us.'  
She patted his arm and smiled at him. 'Go.'

\----------

Ianto leaned on the rail of the hotel balcony overlooking the bay. When Jack said he'd wanted to buy breakfast he hadn't mentioned they would be ordering room service. They had checked into one of Cardiff's more exclusive hotels, as Mr and Mr Smith of all things. He looked over his shoulder. 'This view is amazing.'  
Jack grinned, Ianto's leaning made the fabric of his trousers hug his arse. 'It is quite spectacular from where I'm sitting.'  
Ianto rolled his eyes. They had just finished their breakfast on the balcony and Jack was finishing his coffee. He set the cup down and wondered over, coming up behind him. He stood with his arms around the Welshman, his hands on either side of Ianto's.  
Ianto could feel pheromones filling his awareness and the hardness of Jack's cock as it pressed against him.

'Owen threatened to shoot me if I abandon you again, Gwen said she'd quit if you give her decaf and Tosh. She practically slapped me. I know you don't want me to smother you with apologies or flowers Ianto. Although chocolate body paint has possibilities.' He took a deep breath. 'I didn't consider what the effect would be of leaving like that. I didn't want to.' It was easier to speak if he didn't have to look into Ianto's big blue eyes. If he didn't have to see the pain he'd put there.  
Ianto turned in Jack's arms. 'What's inspired this?'  
'Owen.'  
'Owen?'

Jack nodded. 'He said you got a bit, mean, while I was away. It got me thinking.'  
Ianto reached up and brushed his hand though Jack's hair. 'You know what, I'm all talked out right now. I'm glad you've been thinking about all this but maybe you could tell me about it later. Right now you've been back a couple of days and well, we haven't really.' Ianto kissed Jack. They had done enough talking. He walked Jack backwards until he was pressing him against the wall. Their cocks growing harder between them. Exchanging kisses that demanded action as they held on to each other and let their lips and tongues speak a more physical language.

Jack grinned as Ianto dragged him from the wall to the bed and started undressing him. Encouraged by the absence of hesitation they tore their clothes off, only one button was lost. Until they stood in puddles of clothes, wearing only their boxers. Jack looked down.   
'Um, Ianto, I thought you hated my William Shatner boxers.'  
'They were all I could find.

Jack grinned. 'You are still wearing too many clothes.' Seeing Ianto standing there with William Shatner's face looking at him out of a lurid green background, he was starting to understand why Ianto had been so effected by them. The really disturbing feature was the placement of the nose, with Ianto's erection providing a 3D effect, it just looked wrong. 'Take them off, now.'  
He stepped out of the boxers and up to Jack, toe to toe they resumed kissing. Hands moving over each other as they pressed closer. Jack broke the kiss and stood there, chest heaving as he forced air into his lungs. The ball of his thumb resting lightly on Ianto's thoroughly kissed lower lip. 

Jack groaned. 'Ianto Jones do you have any idea what you do to me?'  
He cupped Jack's balls with one hand, stroking his cock with the other. 'I might have an idea.'  
'I'm getting one or two myself. It's been a while after all.'  
'I don't get that, I know you've said time is less linear but it was nine months for me and a year for you.'  
'That just means it's been longer since I've had sex than you.' Jack watched Ianto blush, he sighed, hoping he hadn't said the wrong thing, again. 'Look, I get it, I was gone. Whatever it was, whoever it was, it's in the past.'  
Ianto nodded as he let Jack guide him to the bed.  
'All that matters is what's happening right here.' He followed Ianto down as he kissed him, waiting for a response.  
Ianto let go, this was all that mattered. Jack hadn't said I love you, but neither had he. He felt loved, perhaps that was enough as he gave himself to Jack all over again. It was as Shakespeare had said when he’d penned the phrase “lovers pleasantly returning.”

Jack was kneeling between Ianto's thighs which he stroked as he wondered what the younger man was smiling at. 'Ianto.' He pointed to the paper bag they had picked up at the chemist, currently sitting on the night stand. He watched Ianto stretch like a cat as he handed him the bag. Armed with lube he smiled. 'Ready?'  
Ianto sighed contentedly and nodded, relaxing as Jack stroked a lubed finger over his arse. He was a bit nervous. 'It's been a while.'  
'It doesn't close up Ianto.'  
'Sometimes it's creepy when you seem to know what I'm thinking.'  
'You do it to me too.' Jack leaned forward to kiss Ianto as he gently slid first one finger then the second inside while swallowing Ianto's intake of breath in a kiss.   
'Jack it's fine, it's better than fine. I'm not a virgin and you aren't hurting me.' He moaned to prove his point as Jack brushed his prostate in a come hither motion. He didn't think his cock could get any harder but it did.

'I've thought about this so many times.'  
'Stop thinking, definitely stop talking. If you need to do something with your mouth I could make a few suggestions.'  
Jack kissed Ianto before rolling a condom over his own throbbing cock. He'd read a fair amount of porn over the years and until now he'd always considered a throbbing cock and a hungry arse to be just a bit beyond the pale. Until now. 'You ready for this?'  
Ianto nodded as Jack began to gently move against him. Like their first time, just the head pushing in against a ring of nerve endings. The pleasure intense as Ianto relaxed and Jack was able to move in deeper. 

Ianto tried to move his hips to hurry Jack but he just shook his head. 'This is for me, you can have what you want next.' He slowly filled Ianto, holding his hips so he could control the rate of penetration. Moving in long slow sweeping strokes that melted Ianto's need for fast and furious. Although he did pick his pace up at Ianto's urging as lust and desire took over until they were both coated in a layer of sweat. Panting, calling out each others names, hearts pounding and lungs heaving. Exploding in a burst of needs met as they both came together in that way two people can who share a bond that's more than just sex. He was wrong before when he thought he was home, rather, this was what coming home felt like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> songs referenced are:   
> Simply Red - If you don't know me by now  
> Abba - Knowing me knowing you  
> Louis Armstrong - Nobody knows the trouble I've seen


End file.
